An overview

Mesopotamia was the first established civilization called "the cradle of civilizations" because that's where everything started

Mesopotamia was located between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers and their many tributaries in the Fertile Crescent. The rivers were unreliable and would cause major floods which was bad for agriculture

They were Polytheistic, and thought their gods were mean because of the violent way the Tigris and Euphrates would flood

Mesopotamia

Mesopotamia was a Monarchy ruled by a King (women could not rule) where power always shifted from men to gods and the high priestess had a lot of control as well.

There was a social hierarchy: slaves, commoners, nobles, priests, King. Slaves worked for anyone and were usually farming.

Achievements

Developed irrigation canals

Number system based on 60

The plow

The wheel

Metal tools (Bronze Age)

Hammurabi's Code

Cuneiform (writing system)

Trade amongst the Indus Valley

Ziggurats

Rise, Fall & Collapse

8000BCE - 600BCE

Rise: A large, centralized population, a surplus of food, a centralized government, a complex division of labor, money collected through taxes